range of innovative
energy and services
product offerings.
natural gas. In solar, to date we have deployed around 60% of our $125 million fund with SolarCity and are expanding our offering, both in funds and the types of projects we support.
In January 2014, we completed the sale of our three Texas gas-fired power stations for £411 million. Following the sale, we are supporting our downstream demand needs in Texas through a combination of the liquid physical and financial power markets and a three-year heat rate call option for an equivalent amount of capacity.
Direct Energy Services
In Direct Energy Services we completed the sale of the Ontario home services business for C$532 million (£294 million) in October 2014. This was an attractive opportunity to realise value from the business in a region where joint energy and services opportunities are more limited and focus our attention on opportunities in the US and Alberta, where we see good prospects for growth. Total Direct Energy Services operating profit reduced by 22%, although profit from the non-Ontario business remained flat. Excluding the Ontario home services business, which had 1.9 million customer accounts, the number of services accounts was up 23%. We now have over 312,000 protection plan customers across the US, while our HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) leasing proposition continues to perform well as customers are willing to undertake a higher value of work when purchased through rental payments as opposed to upfront payment. In addition, the future pipeline of work for our residential new construction, commercial and solar business was $79 million, a record for the business. The business continued to deliver high levels of customer service, with NPS closing the year at +62.
In July 2014, we entered the rapidly growing US residential solar market through the acquisition of Astrum Solar. This transaction enables Direct Energy to sell solar alongside its existing range of energy and services products, as we look to develop further attractive propositions to attract the highest value customers. We completed around 600 residential solar installations in 2014 following the acquisition, 50% more than Astrum Solar installed over the same period in 2013. leading internet-based platform and digital
marketing capabilities. We are also focused on differentiating our offering to the more valuable customer segments through the development of innovative products and bundled energy and services offerings, which we started selling in the first half of the year and now have over 189,000 joint residential and services customers with sales averaging around 6,000 per week during the fourth quarter. We have also sold over 39,000 smart thermostats through our partnerships with Nest and Honeywell.
Direct Energy Business
The integration of the Hess Energy Marketing acquisition is now fully completed and the business is performing ahead of our investment case. Direct Energy is now the largest commercial and industrial (C&I) gas supplier and the second largest C&I power supplier in the competitive US retail market, as well as a top 10 wholesale gas marketer in North America in the Platts third quarter rankings. In addition to enhanced scale, the business is also set up to benefit from portfolio diversification and expansion along the gas value chain.
Despite increased volumes resulting from the Hess Energy Marketing acquisition, Direct Energy Business operating profit fell, reflecting the one-off impact of the polar vortex, lower margins on power sales made in prior periods and mild weather late in the year resulting in low levels of commodity price volatility and leading to fewer
optimisation opportunities. However, average C&I sold unit margins in the second half of 2014 were 35% higher for gas and 50% higher for power compared to the second half of 2013, reflecting a repricing of risk following the polar vortex, with second half profit being significantly higher than in 2013. Combined with a lower amortisation charge relating to the Hess acquisition, this leaves the business well placed for strong underlying growth in 2015. We continue to develop innovative
propositions for our C&I customers. We have a partnership agreement with Panoramic Power to offer wireless energy sensors to help customers better understand their power consumption. We are also helping our customers implement energy efficiency projects through a network of partners across the US. In the fourth quarter, we agreed a joint venture with Xpress Natural Gas on a CNG station in New York State, that will enable us to transport CNG to customers with no access to distributed Direct Energy faced challenging conditions
in 2014, with extreme weather caused by the polar vortex in the first quarter of the year leading to additional network system charges estimated at approximately $110 million (£65 million) and margin pressures across most of our markets in energy supply. Overall operating profit fell by 46% compared to 2013 and on a constant currency basis fell by 43%. However, during the year we added significant value through the completion of disposals of non-core assets, recognising a £219 million profit on disposal on the sale of our Texas gas-fired power stations and a £122 million profit on disposal from the sale of our Ontario home services business.
A $100 million cost reduction programme was launched at the start of the year, to help improve Direct Energy’s competitive position. The programme was successfully completed towards the end of 2014.
The outlook for 2015 is more positive and we are positioned for growth, with the effect of increased sold B2B unit margins in 2014 following the polar vortex starting to positively impact profitability. We also continue to develop a broad range of innovative energy and services product offerings to improve customer retention and attract the highest value customers in our residential energy business, to build innovative partnership offerings in our B2B business in compressed natural gas (CNG) and solar and have additional growth opportunities in residential services following our acquisition of Astrum Solar.
Direct Energy Residential
Direct Energy Residential operating profit fell due to additional costs relating to the extreme weather conditions in early 2014 and a competitive sales environment in both Texas and the US North East, which led to a reduction in unit margins. The number of residential energy accounts decreased by 104,000 over 2014, predominantly reflecting the expected decline in Ontario, with the Energy Consumer Protection Act (ECPA) making retention of customers difficult, and the impact of the competitive market in Texas. Against this challenging backdrop, we remain focused on delivering high levels of customer service and higher levels of customer retention and we have now successfully implemented a new residential billing platform in Alberta.
Sales through digital channels doubled in 2014 compared to 2013, with the acquisition of Bounce Energy in 2013 having provided a